The eSight 3 — which weighs less than a quarter of a pound and is operated by a hand-held remote — captures the world through a camera system and then displays it on OLED screens that sit very close to the eyes.

Legally blind people like Ms. Felix have some limited vision, and eSight's displays are tuned to make use of it.

By dialing up contrast and allowing users to zoom in, it can dramatically amplify sight without a surgical procedure.

"Being able to see that people's pupils actually dilate and contract is quite amazing," she says.

The gear has allowed Ms. Felix to get a desk job and travel on her own.

She's also become a spokeswoman for eSight.

Efforts to make noninvasive vision tech started decades ago with bulky TV-like devices that magnify and increase the contrast on books.

To Star Trek fans, this system recalls the blind "Next Generation" series character who wore a vision visor.

"I remember thinking that Geordi La Forge was my hero and that one day there would be something like that and when it came out, I wanted to try it," says Ms. Felix, who is 36.

The eSight visor, in development for 10 years, is reaching a level of maturity.

The third-generation — which debuts this week — weighs less, has a wider field of view, and just looks cooler.

ESight — along with other makers of head-mounted low-vision aids such as Orcam and Nu-Eyes — is taking advantage of tech that is cheaper, smaller, and faster because of popular gadgets like smartphones and virtual-reality headsets.

When Ms. Felix allowed me to try on her visor, the images I saw were very high contrast, and the screens were positioned to allow me to also make use of my natural peripheral vision.

The battery lasts about 6½ hours.

Using the hand-held controller, users can zoom and pan on a street sign or plug in a TV feed directly.

Because of those capabilities, Ms. Felix said in some cases eSight probably lets her see better than me.

"There is no device that's a magic solution for all problems," says Walter Wittich, an assistant professor at the University of Montreal's School of Optometry, who is part of the first independent research project into the tech.

Still, Mr. Wittich says it can be useful for the people with low vision who benefit from magnification, for whom most current options are hand-held.

Not everyone feels equally comfortable operating the gear.

Mr. Wittich plans to release initial results from the study in May, and says one thing that is clear is that people who click with eSight immediately see a boost in quality of life.

"It is working very well for some people already, and there is still quite a bit of potential in both the design and electronic capability," he says.

ESight says its tech has worked for about three quarters of the people who have tried it.

Their biggest hurdle is getting the technology paid for.

They have sold about a thousand to date, and the new visor costs $10,000.

She recalls that the first time she saw his "Starry Night" with her eSight visor on, it made her cry.

"I saw every little stroke. When I saw the color mixtures and how thick the paint was, it was the most overwhelming moment of my life," she said. "I thought that never in my life would I be able to see something so beautiful."

Project Valerie: 3 x 17.3" 4K-screen gaming laptop

Having played with Razer's new concept device, Project Valerie, I've got to say I'm down with having a laptop that's thick as a brick so long as it has three 17.3-inch monitors built in — that's a lot of pixels.

When closed, the Project Valerie prototype looks like a super beefy Razer Blade Pro, and it has the guts to match, including a Nvidia 1080 graphics card and an Intel Kaby Lake processor.

Once the laptop opens up, Razer is hoping for a full-on transformer moment, what with two 4K displays automatically folding out from the primary 4K display like wings emerging from a Harrier jet.

Project Valerie still exists purely in the realm of concept.

In a closed door briefing, Razer let Gizmodo try two separate units, and they're very cool.

The 1080 graphics card had no problems powering all three 4K monitors at once while I played "Battlefield 1," though the fans spun the entire time and the laptop got hot enough that I probably could have cooked an egg on it.

Only the lack of a working mechanism to automatically extend the monitors, and the fact that it's still a concept — with no defined date of release or price tag — diminishes enthusiasm.